Is it pretentious to give a house a name?

[SarahAndQuack]

Just that really. We live in a village where the majority of houses have names. A few have just numbers, and some have both. We rented the house for a while but now we've bought it and we like the idea of giving it a name. But is that weird? Do you only get to name a house if it's had a name already?

Made me think of Alan Partridge coming up with names for his new house. Such as Excalibur Cottage, Lord House and Ace House.

Excalibur cottage or Ye house if you're an Alan Partridge fan. There's a 90s new build I have to drive past called "Beaulieu", I irrationally hate it so much (combination of the name and its hideous architecture). That said, I don't mind descriptive house names like Oak View (if it's opposite a lovely oak tree) or Station House (near the train station).

When we moved from our student slum tenement into our detached house, DH jokingly threatened to call it Lautrec. Because it had two loos.
Two loos Lautrec…! 😂

Our house was built in the 1950s in what is an old established suburban estate on the edge of a small city. None of the houses have names now, as far as I am aware, but our deeds show that ours did have a rather twee one, in the dim and distant past - think ‘Mossy Banks’ Would love to revive it!

I think the best name to give your house would be 'No 64' - but only as long as it's currently number 27 on the street

I've also seen a fair few called Rose Cottage, which sounds lovely, as long as you don't realise that it's the standard euphemism used in hospitals for the mortuary....

I don't see anything wrong with it, although definitely keep the number as well, as it's horrific for delivery people and first-time visitors when there's a long road with 100 houses on it and they all only have names - unless they're in strict alphabetical order, I suppose! In fact, whatever you do, whether number, name or both, always make sure it's prominently visible from the street.

I agree with PP that it's very pretentious to name it after the road/village/area as though it's THE main/only important house there (unless it was the first one built and had that name from the beginning). That does also show quite a lack of imagination. Also avoid cliched names like Dunroamin, or 'my/our house' in a different language, that just sound like bad pub quiz team names that you end up with when everybody forgot to think of a half-decent one in advance and the person is coming around with the pens and papers and demanding to know!

House names comprising the names (or parts thereof) of the couple living there smashed together can work, but be careful if, like one couple I heard of (immigrants whose first language wasn't English), your names are Constance and Dominic

If you want to use it as a postal address, I wouldn’t, it’s such a pain for post men (and for you, when your post gets lost)!

If you just want to stick up a sign for fun, sure why not. Just be aware that the following over very overused: Dunroamin, ShangriLa, The White House, Bag End, etc.

Depends on the name.

There's one on a road near me called 'Pemberley' but it's probably smaller than the broom cupboard of Mr Darcy's stately home!

Our house has a number and a name. We never use the name, only the number.

However we are moving to a house that only has a name. No number. We will stick with the name, mostly because it would be almost impossible to determine what the number should be

I live in Suffolk and nearly every house in all pretty villages are a name. It is an absolute pita when ferrying kids/teens around especially in the dark as there are no numbers anywhere. I've lost count of the number of times I've have texts to pick up from an address like Green Gables, Troston and it's the arse end of nowhere down a small lane and Google maps gives up and just beeps. I always feel for the Amazon drivers as it must be hell.

Not pretentious though.

I read somewhere recently that it can add value to your house.

Check this out ...

www.name-generator.org.uk/house/

I knew someone who’s house was called Dewdrops. He lived on Coldnose lane!

There's a 90s new build I have to drive past called "Beaulieu", I irrationally hate it so much

I don't think I'd ever be able to drive past without exclaiming "BUELLER!!" in a head-teacher gotcha voice!

I knew a woman with the surname "Witt".

She named her house "Witts End"

Was about to say exactly this! Would much rather have a number even if that number had to be 1a or whatever!
I always think people are judging me for it and over compensate by garbling on about why it doesn't have a number!

I think it's very pretentious to name houses that are on streets with numbers.

It's Royal Mail who officially manage addresses, street names, house numbers and names where appropriate and postcodes.

Mine has a name. I think I would rather live at a numbered house but it would be odd since all the other houses around have names.

Just be aware that the following over very overused: Dunroamin, ShangriLa, The White House, Bag End, etc.

'The Cottage' or 'The Bungalow' are surprisingly common. Presumably named by people with no imagination whatsoever, who live there with their daughter, 'The Girl' and son, 'The Boy'!

I always think people are judging me for it and over compensate by garbling on about why it doesn't have a number!

Me too!

I live in a house with a name and it drives me scatty when trying to get anything delivered. Partly because 4 of the houses have similar names: like Dunroamin farm, barn, house, cottage. Also its a long road and the names give you no idea as to whereabouts.
At one point the house had numbers. It was 1 house, then split into 2 so the cottages were 1 Dunroamin and 3 Dunroamin. The back to 1 house called 1 and 3 Dunroamin. Which regularly morphed into 103.
Pick a name you like but keep the number as well.

The house I live in was built in 1880. The name is the surname of the man who built it plus -ville at the end.

Absolutely not, name your house & be proud to!

Partly because 4 of the houses have similar names: like Dunroamin farm, barn, house, cottage.

It baffles me when town planning departments give adjacent roads the same name, too - Elm Road, Elm Grove, Elm Avenue - unless they get a perverse kick out of the thought of people constantly getting each other's post.

It's the address equivalent of choosing a yooneek spelling of a normal name for your baby and then being surprised/cross when everybody hears it and presumptuously spells it 'Simon' when you actually called him 'Syghmuhn'.

The house I live in was built in 1880. The name is the surname of the man who built it plus -ville at the end.

Hopefully not the namesake of the father of the famous sportspeople Gary, Tracey & Phil

We have the same problem.

Our landlord built 3 houses. We are all the same number but the houses all have names. It's confusing as f**k for deliveries/couriers. I find it a bit pretentious. I'd rather they were numbered eg 9, 9a, 9b. Sometimes wonder if the emergency services could find us ok.